A significant portion of electrical power consumption is used to produce lighting. The energy consumed in lighting production can be reduced through the use of energy-saving lamps and fixtures. This reduction in energy use can result in reduced costs, which can benefit all consumers of electricity including building operators and municipalities. A lighting audit of a building, municipal area, etc. can identify the lighting systems in use at the audit location, and is a first step in determining energy usage.
A lighting audit accounts for the lighting design of the facility undergoing the audit—e.g., a building, a park, a roadway, parking lot, or the like. For example, the audit can quantify the lighting design parameters for the various areas of a building (hallway, entry, offices, bathrooms, etc.).
The lighting audit identifies, counts, and records each source of light from each of the lighting fixtures along with observations about the lighting design quality (intensity, uniformity, adequacy, or the like). The lighting audit can also include a diagram of the space-under-study (e.g., building, parking lot, sports field, or the like). This diagram can accurately map the location of all light fixtures of the space-under-study, identify the type of light and its lamp, and can also include locations of lighting sources outside the property boundary that may nevertheless be illuminating the space-under-study.
Lighting audits are typically labor and time intensive; require accurate locating of the luminaire locations; and detailing of the physical geo-spatial surrounds of the space-under-study.